Friday, May 6, 2016

Our letter to the Denver Post concerning their problem of excluding HOA home owner's input into the Construction Defects Legislation issue and including the Community Association Institute (CAI) that represents HOA property managers and lawyers (NOT home owners) into the discussion. No matter how many times the post reporters are apprised of this concern they continue to seek out the CAI to represent home owners.

Letter to the Editor:

Each of the past several years legislation on construction defects
litigation is introduced and each year the Denver Post reporters get this
wrong. They continue to identify the Community Association Institute (CAI) as
representing those living in home owners association (HOA). Wrong! This
organization represents HOA property managers and HOA lawyers. There membership
has nothing to do with home owners, HOAs or home owner centric interests. They
oppose empowering home owners to vote on the use of their own funds on
litigation and promote court cases vs out of court, accessible, and affordable
venues for dispute resolution(the issues in the legislation). In fact, home
owner's organizations have been excluded from input on this legislation. Maybe
the Post can get this right next year.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

We have received several emails that have asked why we haven't been
excited about HB 16-1217 (see below).The presentation of this Bill is that it will change things for home
owners; it will implement the significant components of the State HOA Study
2013; and it will improve upon home owner's rights and an ability to resolve
HOA disputes out of court.Unfortunately, none of this is fact and HB 16-1217 is more "feel
good" legislation than impacting.You make the call.We would like
to be more optimistic about HOA legislation this session but the only proposed
Bill 16-1133 (simply requiring a receipt for fees assessed home owners) was
vetoed.If you think we are wrong let us
know but we get exhausted with HOA Bills that are proposed with no means of
enforcement.

1.This Bill will use a
different methodology to compute HOA registration fees: a per unit fee.Fine but no particular impact on home owners
and the current law appears to authorize this.

2.Develop, maintain, and
publish a statewide election monitoring referral list consisting of independent
contractors who can monitor HOA elections.First, how will "independence" be determined and who will
select the contractor: home owner or HOA Board?Who are these folks and what qualifies them to monitor HOA
elections?There is no background check
on the integrity or experience of these contractors?There is no certification of contractors as
to their HOA educational requirements and HOA law?The bigger question is who will pay for these
contractors and what is the process to get these folks involved in an HOA
election?Who puts the money upfront to
pay for these contractors?The cost of
these contractors will most certainly be several thousand dollars to do a
thorough job with any report of the election and recommendation for changes
mostly unenforceable.Election
irregularities will require the home owner to go to court to get enforced (same
as now!).What happens when the HOA
refuses to allow these folks in to oversee an election? These contractors may
monitor an election but what authority do they have to demand election
procedure changes or when improprieties occur what enforcement authority do
they have to demand election results be invalidated and another election occur:
back to court?Thus it appears we will
have a list of costly and unvetted election officials that can have little to
no experience in HOA matters, have no formal HOA education, have no enforcement
authority, will keep HOA disputes in court, will cost home owners, and finally,
get this, the law specifically states DORA will place a disclaimer on their
site that they do not endorse anyone on the list.

3.Require the officer to
develop, maintain, and publish a statewide referral list containing the names
and contact information for independent contractors who provide mediation or
arbitration services on HOA matters.First, mediation costs and adds time and process to dispute resolution
with NO guarantee of a decision and/or a decision that is enforceable.Licensing HOAs will bring an out of court
binding dispute resolution process that is affordable and accessible and we are
working on this, not mediation that has failed home owners for decades.Next, anyone, you, me, the Orkin bug man, can
be a mediator: there are no professional mediator standards set by any
licensing Board.The folks on this list
will not be required to have any confirmed formal HOA law and/or HOA coursework
or history of HOA mediation.The people
on this list will not be vetted except for what they place on a resume.The list will not provide the cost to the
home owner.If you currently want a
mediator you can Google "HOA mediator" and your list will be as
vetted as the DORA list.DORA will
disclaim endorsement of any mediator.The list will not include any information as to what a mediator can
accomplish, what is enforceable, indicate that the parties can walk away from
an agreement at any time without prejudice (see CCIOA), discuss that the HOA need
not attend the session or can walk out of the session at any time leaving the
tab to the home owner, etc.Thus we get
a list of unvetted, unlicensed, no guarantee of knowledge of HOA law mediators
for you to pay with you hard earned money.This is the situation today.

Monday, February 22, 2016

HB 16-1133 was defeated in Committee, February 22, 2016. This Bill was simple, no burden on businesses or taxpayers, and only required HOA property managers (PM), also known as Community Association Managers, to provide a detailed receipt to home owners when fees are paid. The Bill did not preclude any fees from being charged or limit amounts: just provide a detailed receipt of work completed. The Bill was intended to mitigate the practice of HOA PM's duplicate and triplicate billing for services already paid for via HOA dues or HOA Transfer Fees and/or Title Companies: happens all the time. It also was intended to reveal the practice of excessive billing whereby PM fees for the same services ranged from $50 to $1000 and home owners were required to pay without a receipt or a lien could be placed on their property or stop their home sale. Finally, a receipt was to be required to justify that the HOA PM Transfer Fee only represented expenses unique and incurred in the sale of a home which otherwise would make them illegally assessed as defined under State and Federal law. This all proved to much help for home owners in the eyes of the legislators.

The Community Association Institute (CAI) and property managers testified before Committee hearing this Bill. If you weren't in attendance their objections to this Bill will be difficult for you to believe but our legislators absorbed the misinformation to reinforce they NO vote. Testimony contended that providing a receipt would impose an excessive cost and that it was impossible to detail the work done to earn the home sale Transfer Fee. If they can't identify what they did to earn the fee what evidence is there that they did anything and why are they charging it? CAI folks also argued that a one line statement in a PM's contract with the HOA (that home owners never see) and a one liner with amount on a home sales contract was enough disclosure and no need to justify the fee based on work performed or provide a detailed receipt to any home owner. Do you think COMCAST, Xcel Energy, or Master Card can get away with billing you without providing a detailed invoice of work completed? There is no legal basis except with HOA PM fees to demand payment without proving services rendered!

HOA home owners will continue to pay PM fees in an environment of "pay it, shut up, or else". No other business would endorse such a practice but our legislature must be thanked for enabling, protecting, and approving this deceptive and abusive situation with their veto of Colorado HB 16-1133.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

The Colorado HOA Forum will be holding another of its’ HOA Town Hall Meetings, this time in Colorado Springs, CO. The Meeting is open and free to the public and is the only HOA presentation from the home owner’s perspective. The Meeting includes an HOA home buyer’s seminar (9-10 am) followed by an array of HOA topics ending with an extended question and answer session for attendees. Find out about HOA legislation, HOA property manager licensing and responsibilities, HOA Transfer Fees on the sale of homes, and other issues affecting the home owner’s living environment, quality of life, and finances. BROCHURE ON OUR WEB SITE

The Colorado HOA Forum is Colorado’s largest and most effective HOA home owner’s advocacy organization working to improve HOA governance through legislative reform. The Forum is a pro-HOA organization and the only Colorado home owner centric organization with nearly 1,000 members located in 80+ cities/towns throughout the State. It strives to ensure a balance in HOA governance that promotes openness and inclusion in HOA governance, protection of home owner’s rights, and address abusive and costly practices that are costly to HOAs and their home owners.

Friday, February 5, 2016

The Colorado legislature will consider three home owner's association (HOA) Bills this session. Two will be mostly administrative and one could serve to be the most impacting HOA legislation of the past 20 years improving upon responsibilities and accountability in the HOA property manager industry and the potential to save HOA home owners millions of dollars annually.

SB 16-082, HOA Whistleblower (intimidation) Protection, and HB 16-1149, Remove Budget Reporting Exemption HOAs Predate Act (CCIOA), have admirable goals and provide great expectations but will accomplish neither (for now). These Bills have the same ole' problem that characterizes HOA legislation over the past decades: they lack enforcement from the home owner's perspective except through our costly, litigious, time consuming court system matching HOA funds and lawyers against the very limited resources of the home owner. Lacking an accessible and affordable venue to enforce these Bills home owners will more feel good about the Bills than experience any change.

HB 16-1133, HOA Manager Professional Responsibility and Disclosure, can positively affect home owner's rights and their wallets and provide financial relief to small businesses serving HOAs. This Bill modifies the HOA property manager (PM) licensing law. The Bill addresses the abusive and costly property manager HOA Transfer Fee that involves duplicate and triplicate billing of home owners for services already paid for with HOA dues, requires home owners to be provided a detailed receipt of charges for Transfer Fees, and requires that all Transfer Fees be in compliance with authority to charge as stated in State and Federal laws. This fee costs home owners upwards of $10 million a year. The Bill provides the smallest of HOA property managers financial relief from requirements to obtain a license that can cost them more than a year's income. Also, the Bill improves upon requirements for property managers to comply with State laws and HOA governing documents. The reason this Bill will immediately impact home owners is that when non-compliance with this Bill occurs a home owner can file a complaint with DORA (Dept of Regulatory Agencies) free of charge, have the complaint investigated, violators (HOA property managers in this case) can be fined and/or have their license revoked. and it will directly affect abusive PM Transfer Fee practices by requiring justification and documentation of to payees.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

No other bill you will receive will be lacking in documentation and accountability as much as the property manager HOA Transfer Fee. This fee, first known to the HOA home seller at home closing, requires no hard copy receipt, no justification for charges, and no limits on amounts billed and if you don't pay it you can't sell your home. How do they get away this extortion of fees imposed on home owners? Read about this illegal fee and efforts to contain the abuse imposed on home owners on the Colorado HOA Forums web site: www.coloradohoaforum.com

Friday, January 22, 2016

HB 16-1133, HOA Manager Professional
Responsibility and Disclosure, will be considered in the 2016 legislative
session.It will propose modifications
to the HOA Property Manager Licensing Bill and will again surface the obstructive
efforts by the Community Association Institute (CAI) in HOA and HOA Community
Association Manager (CAMs) Licensing reform: but we hope not.The Bill will also address problems with DORA
administering the law and developing effective CAM operating rules.

Up front in
this Bill:Adds no additional regulation
or government reporting requirements,no
new taxpayer contributions, no new fees or burdens to business, does not
preclude CAMs from charging any justified fee, and doesn’t interfere with CAM
or HOA operations.

In this
Bill:1) direct and definitive
statements addressing requirements that CAMs comply with State HOA law and HOA governing
documents 2) defines requirements for
full disclosure of CAM fees and in particular for HOA Transfer Fees and
addresses the problems of excessive fees and duplicate (and triplicate)
charging for services already paid for with HOA dues 3) requires CAMs to provide a specifically
detailed hardcopy receipt to all payees4) provides financial relief for the smallest HOA CAMs in reduced fees
and educational requirements but still requires they be licensed6) requires DORA to provide improved transparency
and functionality on their web site concerning CAM information and violations.

Opposition from
the CAI is expected, again, in the form of empty and non-substantive arguments
(just statements and declarations) that contend no changes are needed and all the
issues in this proposal are already in the Bill (for whom?).

The CAI will
oppose requirements to justify the CAM HOA Transfer Fee and other CAM billings.This Bill doesn’t limit the amount of any fee
or preclude charging any fee but requires meaningfully explaining,
justifying, and receipting any fee.It
does begin to rein in the abusive Transfer Fee charged to sellers upon the sale
of a home.Specifically, what other
business can bill a home owner and not provide justification based on work
performed, not provide a detailed receipt, bill any amount with no
questions asked, leave the consumer with no means to contest the bill or its’
amount, no requirement to comply with State restrictions of billing under the
law, duplicate bill the home owner (and even triplicate) for services already
paid for with HOA dues, and if the home owner doesn’t pay can’t close on their
home?The answer is easy: NONE.The CAM licensing Bill was supposed to specifically
define requirements on justification, legality, and documentation and it did a
lame job at it ensuring this questionable CAM billing practices would continue.The transparency
and real disclosure in this Bill will not interfere with any collection of a
CAM fee as long as justified and legal.

The fight
for financial relief for small CAMs in this Bill was not supported by the CAI
in the last legislative session. The cost of a license for small CAMs can equal
a year’s income: it’s abusive and burdensome.Previous misinformation spread was that the goal was to exempt small
CAMs from being licensed: not true, never in any proposal but believed by too
many.This Bill provides fairness and
relief to small business with reduced fees and educational requirements
commensurate with knowledge to legally and competently service small HOAs of 30
or less units.Educational providers are
able to offer small HOA CAM courses at a reduced cost.Costs for DORA to implement should be covered
in the same manner as completed when the total licensing law was implemented.

This Bill
also contains specifics on actions and requirements to comply with State
law and HOA governing documents that are now ambiguous in the law.Of importance is the requirement for a CAM to
notify the HOA Board if they are in non-compliance with the law, suggest a
corrective action, and if the Board continues their actions report the event to
DORA.This documents the event for
potential home owner action and also protects the CAM from a complaint that
they were complicit.Will the CAI object
to clarification on this issue to make accountability better defined?

HB 16-1133
simply makes the licensing law effective for home owners with no new burdens on
business.It defines accountability,
transparency, and fairness that are lacking in the law and required for
enforcement.The objections to
improvements in CAM licensing through this Bill will become the CAI’s latest whack-a-mole
game in which they float empty and
deflective arguments to slam down any initiative that pops up for real HOA
reform and CAM accountability.

Note: the
CAI is an organization representing CAMs and HOA legal interests which comprise
their membership.